Why do we apply the mutation operation after generating the offspring?
The mutation operation is (usually) needed to introduce new genes not found in the population.

For example, suppose that you have 4 possible genes $A$, $B$, $C$, and $D$, and that your chromosomes have a non-binary encoding. In that case, if no member of your population has the gene $D$, then no amount of crossover operations will result in the introduction of that gene.

However, if your chromosomes use a binary encoding, then new genes could be introduced as a side effect of crossover operations. But it is always safer to have some kind of mutation to ensure that all genes can be accessed.

See also the paper Genetic Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problem with Modified Cycle Crossover Operator, which mentions several non-binary encodings for the TSP.